Computer systems and related technology affect many aspects of society. Indeed, a computer system's ability to process information has transformed the way we live and work. Computer systems now commonly perform a host of tasks (e.g., word processing, scheduling, accounting, etc.) that prior to the advent of the computer system were performed manually. More recently, computer systems have been coupled to one another and to other electronic devices to form both wired and wireless computer networks over which the computer systems and other electronic devices can transfer electronic data. Accordingly, the performance of many computing tasks are distributed across a number of different computer systems and/or a number of different computing environments.
In some computing environments, devices use wireless communication to establish networks. After a network is established, the devices can wirelessly exchange data over the network. For example, an MP3 player can use a wireless communication process to establish a connection to wireless speaker. After a connection is established, the MP3 player can stream music to the wireless speakers for output.
However, when secure communication over wireless networks is required it can be more difficult to correctly configure devices for connection to one another. Standards, such as WiFi Protected Setup (WPS), exist to simplify the configuration process, but these do not address the issue of establishing pairings for streaming audio content, which must be done separately. In addition, while standards such as Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) exist for pairing devices for streaming audio content, these are generally implemented in support of uses cases that involve ad-hoc pairings of source devices to speakers, rather than consistent, dedicated connections between devices.